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City of Culver City General Plan Update

What is the General Plan?

A general plan is a city’s blueprint, or constitution, for future development. It documents the city’s long-range vision and establishes clear goals, objectives, and actions to guide the community through its next 20 to 30 years of change.

The City must update its General Plan periodically to keep up with the changing needs and conditions of the city and region. It also should be updated to reflect new local, regional, state, and national laws.

State law requires that general plans address certain topics including land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. General plans can also include optional topics – such as urban design, economic development, and sustainability – to reflect each community’s unique character, physical features, or needs.

Why is the City updating its General Plan?

Culver City’s existing General Plan contains nine topics, or “elements,” updated between 1968 and 2014. Click on the icons below to view the existing elements:

This will be the first time all elements are updated at the same time, aligning the entire Culver City General Plan with today’s and tomorrow’s community conditions and needs. The City is interested in creating an innovative plan that is understandable and useful for the layperson as well as the expert. Community stakeholders and City Council are already identifying new topics to include that address existing and emerging critical concerns. These include sustainability, equity and social justice, healthy communities for all ages, climate adaptation and resiliency, urban design and public places, economy, Ballona Creek, cultural planning, governance, and technology.

Who is part of the General Plan update?

All of Culver City is invited to collaborate in the process! The plan is relevant to all who live, work, play, and invest here. In addition to local residents, businesses and employees, community groups and nonprofits, developers, institutions, residents, regional agencies and partners, schools, and many others will be invited to participate. All have a place and a valued voice in the update process. The City Council, its appointed committees, and all City departments will be working together to lead the community through the General Plan update. Additionally, a creative and skilled consulting team will help ensure the highest quality outcome.

The City Council appointed a 21-member General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC). The GPAC's purpose is to advise broadly, make recommendations to Council, and liaise with Council and other committees. Other GPU advisory bodies will include a committee focusing on public engagement and equity issues and technical advisory committees that will advise on technical and policy matters. If you or someone you know is interested in serving on a GPU committee, please contact Ashley Hefner at ashley.hefner@culvercity.org or 310-253-5744.

What does the General Plan update process look like?

The City issued the General Plan Update (GPU) Services Request for Proposals for the project in April 2018 and received nine proposals. City staff and City Council’s GPU Subcommittee reviewed and evaluated the proposals. Based on proposal scores, a panel of City staff joined by Mayor Small interviewed the four highest scoring teams in October 2018. Based on proposal and interview scores, City Council interviewed the two highest scoring teams at a Special Meeting on January 24, 2019. City Council unanimously selected the Raimi + Associates team to perform GPU services at their Regular Meeting on January 28, 2019. The public side of the project will kick off in Spring 2019 after City staff and the consultants complete a public engagement plan. The process of updating the General Plan itself is a collaborative, multi-year effort. Sign up to be notified of all things GPU below!

Eager to start learning about General Plans? Here are some resources to get started!

Sounds great! How can I get involved?

The City is committed to fostering public ownership of the General Plan and its roadmap for Culver City’s future. The City and the consultant team will begin this summer by preparing a plan to bring the community together as collaborators in the process, with a goal of broad involvement – especially of those who are too often left out of community planning processes.

We look forward to hearing from you. As we work toward that engagement plan, listening to the community is our highest priority. We encourage you to let us know how you would like to be involved in the process and to send us your ideas.